Thank you for the opportunity to be heard on HB568. As the General Organization UDC Treasurer General I am speaking in opposition to House Bill 568 and Senate Bill 517. Why did this General Assembly not take their pen up to strike out organizations that no longer exist as they use the taxpayers time and dime as working Legislators to make sensible changes to the property tax code exemption such as the removal of two entities in the historical listing of Article X, Section 6 of the Virginia Constitution, specifically posts of United Spanish War Veterans and Veterans of World War I, USA, Incorporated as these entities ceased to exist with the death of their last member? What is not sensible is the removal of the four working organizations with Confederate States ties, entities that had that history when the property tax exemption was written into Virginia Law. it was a shock to read the VPM article United Daughters of he Confederacy could lose Virginia tax exemptions and learn that a yearly property assessment on the UDC Headquarters Memorial Building would amount to $53,232 yearly and the assessor value of he property was $4,436,000. For one the UDC has never received a notification of any assessor value but more importantly the Virginia Constitution requires that all property must be taxed and taxed uniformly but that the same governance of Article X, Section names the exception. With regards to the issue of just valuation that any responsible keeper of organizational funds would watch with interest is the looming lack of uniformity that will immediately exist should this bill take the form of law. With regards to the UDC, the lack of uniformity is that the assessed fair market value will exceed the actual fair market value because the deed that the General Organization United Daughters of the Confederacy holds will not allow them to sell the parcel of land (willing buyer-willing seller) and achieve said fair market value. There is conflict ahead in the proposed tax law at the hands of Virginia lawmakers. I respectfully ask the House of Delegate's Finance Committee to vote NAY to SB517.

Thank you for the opportunity to be heard. As a member and Officer of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), I am speaking in opposition to House Bill 568 and Senate Bill 517. The UDC has never veered from our philanthropic goals. Our five objectives remain as they were in 1894: Historical, Educational, Benevolent, Memorial and Patriotic. As a previous resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I am particularly concerned regarding the direction of your state. It is extremely troubling to hear the falsehoods about the UDC espoused by your own Representative stating we are “a public relations arm of the Ku Klux Klan.” In 2023, the Virginia Division awarded almost $12,000 in scholarships. Collectively, our organization awarded over $136,000 in scholarships last year alone. Donations in time and talent last year were almost 390,000 hours, items donated worth over $762,000 and monetary donations over $2 million. As you can see, our members are charitable and are focused on education. We are patriotic, donating time, items and money to veterans organizations. We support wounded veterans and active duty military. We say the pledge to the US Flag and sing the National Anthem at every meeting. We are proud Americans. We present military service medals and American Patriot medals to servicemen and women. In fact, I personally paid for a WWII medal and travelled to Powhatan in June 2022 to witness the Resolutions sponsored by Senator Ghazala Hashmi celebrating veterans Brigadier General James Jervey and Col. Alec Quintard. Thank you, Senator Hashmi! We seem to have the same goals of honoring our military. I helped with research for these men, who both bravely served our nation. General Jervy was Resident Engineer of the Panama Canal; Colonel Quintard survived the Bataan Death March and POW camps. Would I have researched all that had I not been in the UDC? Probably not. The UDC is keeping their memory “green”, as we do our own ancestors: men who responded to the call of Virginia. Before the May 2020 attack on our building, it was open by appointment for research purposes and tours. We have almost completed the repairs from that unwarranted, vicious and destructive attack and hope to soon be available for appointments again. To strip us of a tax exemption that YOUR legislature granted us on property that YOUR legislature deeded us reeks of a grab for power, money and perhaps real estate. To punish descendants of those who responded to the call of YOUR legislature to defend their state reeks of discrimination, based on misguided and biased opinions of our great philanthropic organization.

Thank you for the opportunity to write on HB568. I OPPOSE this bill as it directly violates Article X, Section 6(a)(6) of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia. This article describes "property used by its owner for religious, CHARITABLE, PATRIOTIC, HISTORICAL, BENEVOLENT, cultural or park and playground purposes shall be exempt from state and local taxation". The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) have had since its inception 5 objects of the organization : Memorial, HISTORICAL, PATRIOTIC, BENEVOLENT and Education. As these objects have been strictly adhered to and reported on for almost 130 years, how can it be said the UDC does not meet the article of the VA Constitution? Additionally, as a 501 (c)3 organization , it meets the guidelines recognized by the Federal government as a CHARITABLE organization. Again... how does the UDC fail to meet the property requirements of the VA Constitution? It unequivocally, in fact, it SUPERCEEDS the requirements for the Constitutional exemption by meeting 5 of the 7 exemption examples. Thank you for voting NO to HB568 as it comes to a vote.

I STRONGLY oppose this bill. As a Virginian, an ETSU grad, teacher and a professional genealogist, I am a member of more than 40 hereditary societies, one, The United Daughters of the Confederacy. UDC's objectives are Historical, Educational, Benevolent, Memorial and Patriotic. They give scholarships and give patriotic awards to present-day military recipients, as well. The UDC DOES NOT CELEBRATE SLAVERY. It's about HISTORY!!!! All the hate, removal of monuments, and increased taxes on HISTORICAL societies, is not going to erase history. It IS what it IS! Only ignorance purports that Confederate soldiers fought for Slavery. Most of them didn't even own slaves!!! As for singling out CONFEDERATE ORGANIZATIONS---Please consider the FACT that the NORTH* was"deeply implemented in slavery and the slave trade right up until the War. The slave trade in particular was dominated by the northern maritime industry. Rhode Island alone was responsible for half of all U.S. slave voyages."* So people, it wasn't just Southerners--so why single out CONFEDERATES??? I'm sorry to say, THIS 'BILL' IS NOT ONLY BIASED, BUT RACIST! Our Country is better than this!! Please reconsider and KILL THIS BILL. *https://www.tracingcenter.org/resources/background/northern-involvement-in-the-slave-trade/

Kindly Support this bill. Any group who upholds the abuses and exploitation of enslaved people, any group not repulsed by its own history of abuse and exploitation of enslaved people, any group who grossly insult so many Virginians who families endured so mush abuse and exploitation, does not need a tax exemption because tax exemptions act to promote the pain and suffering of so many that is maintained by groups such as these.

I strongly oppose this bill, it leaves other lineage organizations wide open. The United Daughters of the Confederacy should not be singled out. Their objectives are Historical, Benevolent, Military and Educational. They give present military awards honoring our military and scholarships to deserving young people. They are a benevolent organization giving help where is needed. Why should they be singled out with all the good they do? Please reconsider and rescind this bill.

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I have worked in the Circuit Court Clerk's Office for over 40 years, 33 of those years was supervising the Land Records Dept. What this bill would do is tax your constituents for something they didn't receive. The idea behind this bill is to make uniform the collection of these taxes throughout the Commonwealth. The better way to achieve this goal would be to delete the language "Value of property" or "Value of interest" altogether. Just tax on the consideration, which is the sales price or loan amount. The best way to determine value in regard to real estate is what a willing seller and a willing buyer agree upon, not what a real estate assessor who has never seen the house thinks it is worth. We all know that real estate values go up and down throughout the years, depending on the economy as a whole. I can assure you that the assessments as a whole are two to three years behind the market. So when the current market cools down, which it will, the assessments will be too high for another couple of years. Anyone selling or buying a home during those years will be paying more recording tax than they should. If I sell my home for $200,000, why should I have to pay recording tax on $230,000 just because that is the assessment? All I received from the sale is the $200,000. Please do not pass this bill. We all get taxed enough for the things/benefits we receive, we shouldn't get taxed for things we didn't receive.

The City of Newport News strongly supports this bill. Although downtown Newport News is not considered a military installation, we host 5000-7000 sailors at any given time while their ships are in being built or maintained at Huntington Ingalls. An incentive such as this would be extremely helpful to encourage private investment in downtown, which would greatly improve the quality of life for our military who are stationed there.